Greece Before the Odyssey: Myth and Realities
In Book 3 of the Odyssey, Homer describes the royal palace of King Nestor at Pylos, in southwestern Greece. This talk will explore the Bronze Age reality behind that epic vision – the earliest Greek history we possess – from the discovery of Nestor’s palace in 1939, to current excavations in Iklaina, one of the towns in his kingdom. Cynthia W. Shelmerdine is Robert M. Armstrong Centennial Professor of Classics, emerita at the University of Texas at Austin, and a Research Associate in Classics at Bowdoin College. Her main research focuses on Aegean Bronze Age archaeology, and the language, history and society of Mycenaean Greece. She was educated at Bryn Mawr College, Cambridge University and Harvard University (Ph.D. 1977).
Free Event is sponsored by The Highlands, Topsham, ME. For more information, please visit: https://midcoastseniorcollege.org/winter-wisdom/